


Cracked Foundations

by HyperKid



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Emotionally damaged assholes, Introspection, Other, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26869597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperKid/pseuds/HyperKid
Summary: Having extended contact with the Mighty Nein has left both Astrid and Eadwulf shaken, in different ways. Eadwulf can’t help wondering where he lost his sense of fun. Astrid can’t stop thinking about a little blue tiefling who thinks she’s a good person.
Relationships: Hints of Blumentrio, Hints of Cadwulf, Hints of Jestrid
Comments: 14
Kudos: 64





	Cracked Foundations

**Author's Note:**

> HK: Just a little something I’ve been wanting to play with now that I’m slightly more caught up! There may be a second chapter from Astrid’s perspective, since I did wanna play with her more but Wulf is just easily distracted.   
> Mollymauk: And the pair of them are too repressed to talk about it properly?   
> HK: And that! But I do love the idea of them being a little softer with one another. Especially when it became just the two of them.   
> Mollymauk: Well, it’d give you another day of fictober.   
> HK: I’m declaring victory if I make it to tomorrow and then focusing on Magic Lube Thursday, because I have Ideas.   
> Mollymauk: Day after tomorrow is Thursday.   
> HK: Yeah but I have things like a job and eating and sleeping that also require time?   
> Mollymauk: Overrated. Abandon them all and write me porn.   
> HK: Don’t think I don’t want to every day. 
> 
> WARNINGS!! The mildest of references to extremely fucked up child abuse, psychological torture, and extra fucked dynamics courtesy of Trent 
> 
> Disclaimer: Look, if I owned any rights to Critical Role these two would have last names by now, if only to middle name each other when they get sassy.

Astrid was uncharacteristically quiet as she rejoined Eadwulf, waiting in the shadows just out of sight of the Mighty Nein. In and of itself, the quiet wasn’t so strange; they’d been together long enough to almost read one another’s minds. Words weren’t really necessary. 

No, the odd part was that this silence felt uncertain. Wulf could count on the fingers of one foot the number of times he’d seen Astrid falter in the last five years. She had the drive he’d never felt, all the hard ambition and purpose he’d found in service to the Matron. 

He’d not seen her so unsure since... well. Since they’d last had Bren with them. 

It was enough for him to make a quick decision, his hand curling for just a moment around the raven feather necklace. Astrid visibly jumped as the magic washed over her, her Disguise spell dropping as the Anti Magic Field expanded. 

Definitely the right call. 

She’d stopped, staring at him in blatant shock, and he gave her a half smile in return. 

“You’ve got a lot on your mind. I thought we could use some... uninterrupted time to talk,” he explained with a small shrug. 

Astrid glanced back, towards the gate, the lights of the city, the group of fucking lunatics they’d just let back out. How badly had she wanted to go with them? At least as badly as Eadwulf himself he was sure. 

Just one night, pretending they were... just citizens of the Empire. Just people, reunited with an old and dear friend, meeting his new friends. Eadwulf stifled a snicker at the memory of that little fucking halfling just appearing in the seat he’d meant to take. The taller woman doing the exact same thing a moment later. 

He’d expected to seat the rest of the damn table when the... large, furred man had pulled a chair out for him. It had been totally unexpected, completely out of the blue even with the eccentricity the group had shown in their last encounter. 

People just... didn’t do things like that in Master Ikithon’s tower. They showed decorum, respect, usually at least a hint of fear in his presence. They didn’t fuck around. 

They didn’t directly ask the master if he’d ever answered a direct question in his life, or laugh at the answer. 

It brought a smile to his face just thinking about it, remembering the barely there microexpressions on Ikithon’s face every time their guests spoke. Questioned him. Refused him. Teased him. 

Trent Ikithon hadn’t been spoken to like that in decades. 

Even the Assembly members were icily polite, careful, calculated in every word and move. Political. It was part of the reason Wulf had no desire to become one. Astrid would do well, though. 

Even now her sharp gaze pierced him, tracking every line on his face for what he’d seen. Then her shoulders settled for the first time all day and she blew out a long breath. 

“She... apologised to me,” she said softly, her face more open than he could remember seeing, lost and perplexed, “she said she felt terrible. I didn’t even realise she was trying to be cruel.” 

One of Wulf’s brows rose and he almost had to ask which one. As far as he’d seen, Jester and Astrid’s interaction had been amicable, but then... he may have spent a little too much time with lightly veiled death threats. His only consolation was that Astrid seemed at least equally wrong-footed. 

For lack of anything better to say, he managed an “oh?”. The look Astrid gave him was much more herself, exasperated and fond. 

“Well it was much more obvious when she was fucking with Trent. I did not expect her to feel bad for something so mild when she was so unashamed of that.” 

“You are hardly Master Ikithon,” Wulf pointed out with a half smile, giving her a gentle nudge. Astrid nudged him back, a rare smile stealing across her face. 

“It was just unexpected. They are a very strange group,” she remarked dryly, tucking her hair back behind her ears. Visibly composing herself. Wulf couldn’t help smiling as he watched her, the world set to rights once again. 

“Bren seems to be doing well with them.” 

Astrid gave him a sharp look, clearly wondering what he meant by it. It softened a moment later, that same rare smile creeping back in. 

“Ja. There is more to them than meets the eye, I think. Perhaps a lot more.” Her expression went vague again, lost in thought. 

Wulf’s smile spread as he thought back to the strange pink man and the barbarian woman. He wouldn’t be against learning more about them. It had been a long, long time since he’d had so much fun, and that was with them in the heart of an enemy’s stronghold. 

He couldn’t imagine what they’d be like in the bars of the city. 

It’d only be tainted to do now. To know they had Ikithon’s eye on them, knowing anything they learned would be expected on their return. It had been a while since Wulf had begrudged Trent his expectations too. It had just become... habit that everything he had was to be offered up to both his masters. 

He hadn’t wanted anything just for himself in a while. 

He clapped a hand on Astrid’s shoulder, nodding back to the tower. 

“Maybe once you’ve killed the old bastard, eh? We could make like DeRogna and take them on an excursion.” 

For a moment she looked pained, torn, and that surprised him more than anything else from the evening. 

“Unless Bren beats us both to it...” she muttered, shaking her head. Wulf paused, his hand resting on her shoulder. 

“Astrid...” 

She shook herself, giving him a tight smile as her hand rose to cover his. 

“I am sorry that Bren called me his favourite.” She even sounded it, and Wulf’s hand tightened for a moment under hers. 

He knew full well that she understood how biting that could be. Trent delighted in pitting them against each other, showering one of his proteges with favour. Recently it had always been Astrid, but Wulf didn’t mind. 

He was quite sure that Trent knew he was Wulf’s least favourite master. Not that the man was fool enough to argue with the Raven Queen. 

He gave Astrid a gentle smile, arm slipping around her shoulders to pull her into a half hug. 

“It was hardly a secret. He always did have good taste,” he teased gently and she laughed, reaching up automatically to push his hand away. 

“Does nothing bother you?” She asked with a wry smile, automatically putting that little bit more distance between them. 

A moment of sadness settled in Eadwulf’s heart. The Mighty Nein did so much casual touching. He’d not noticed how much he missed that. 

It would have been... nice to join them for an evening. To follow them out into the city without worrying about Trent’s eye on his back. To see what they were like when it wasn’t all biting sarcasm and delighted mockery. 

To work out what the fuck Caduceus Clay actually was, and maybe... Better not to think about it. If they survived their trip with Vess DeRogna, maybe they’d come to visit again. And maybe he could take an evening away, borrow an anti scrying charm, and go find them in the city. 

For now, it was all moot. Just a distraction from his real work. 

A nice distraction though. 

**Author's Note:**

> HK: I’m gonna have a lot of fun with these sad beans, you guys have no idea.


End file.
